On the evening of the 25th of July, an FTP (Fuck the Police) march
took to the streets in solidarity with Portland and with all those
murdered by police. Undercover cops in the march repeated started
trouble, at one point even managing to steer the march into what was
supposed to be a trap. Only problem for the cops was that determined
protesters kept defeating the bike cops who were supposed to spring
those traps.
The march had it's own bicycle cavalry, more skilled and with more
courage than the biker cops. Bikers routinely responded to any probes or
aggression by cops on bikes, in some cases using a line of nose-to-tail
bikes to keep cops out of the protest. The was expecially important in
defeating the trap on that narrow ramp. Every "joust" seemed to end the
same way, with the bike cops slinking away and riding out of sight, only
to reappear the next time someone could gin up an excuse for an
attempted attack.None of these attacks were successful.
The march began at Dupont, and soon ended up at Logan Circle.
Marchers there climbed the statue, and cops must have though the ropes
would be out in minutes. Nothing happened there, and marchers went
south, passing Trump Hotel in another feint. The real target was the
headquarters of the Federal Protective Service.
Getting to FPS took longer than expected, due in part to someone NOT
part of the march (thus a presumed cop or fash) telling marchers from
the back to "slow down." Also there was that first showdown on
Constitution Ave over a surrounded cop car, leading to the first defeat
of the bike cops. Shortly therafter came a deliberately reckless
motorcycle rider, zooming as close to protesters without striking anyone
as he could. MPD of course took no action, and there were concerns he
was another provocateur.
Marchers got to FPS and held a "mic-check" there, but the second
target (Customs and Border "Protection") was bypassed because cops in
the march were causing too many incidents and although protesters had
won them all so far, the risk of another incident was considered
unacceptable, so the march went straight back to Black Lives Matter
Plaza instead.
There was another motor vehicle incident about an hour after the
march ended, when a "Karen" (racist white woman) in Georgetown with
protesters in front of her car asking her to back up instead gunned the
engine and rammed them, at least three times. Somehow there are no
reports of anyone ending up in the hospital. Needless to say, the driver
didn't go to jail either, being on the same side as the cops.
